The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-07-07
WATERING CATTLE IN PAS.
TURES.

plenJ1ful supply OF Wafer IS 1ndlSpenS-
able for cattle, and as a large proper
ton of the land recently laid down to
grass has, strictly speaking, no natural
water supply, it has become a matter
of great importance how a sufficient
quantity is to be produced artiicially.
Wells with pumps do fairly well
where there are only a few cattle,
but for supplying large herds of fifty
or more they are not at all satisfactory,
because the labor of pumping such a
large quantity is costly, and the cattle
are apt to be neglected and left with
an insufficient quantity of water.
Again, in some geological formations,
such as chalks and magnetism lime
stones, and some of the higher ranges
Of the new red sandstone, the water is
only found at such a depth that it is
impossible for the ordinary pump to
lift it to the surface. So that, on the
whole, [ do not regard the we'll as a
very satisfactory means of supplying
pastures with water on a very large
scale. The next and commonest
method of supplying water to pastures
is in pond or reservoir where the
water is collected in the winter for the
summer use. | know no better plan,
but I think it is capable of extension
and improvement. In the first place
I think there should be a larger stor-
age, and, secondly, that the pond
should always be regarded as a reser-
voir and fenced round, so that the
cattle have not direct access to it, but
obtain their water from a trough con-
Il, Jed with the pond by a pipe and
ball tap. This method economies
! water to a very great extent, besides
adding very greatly to it's purity, for
when cattle stand in the pond day by
day in a hot summer, it is only sheer
suffering necessity which compels them
to drink it, and I do not think it is so
wholesome as water where cattle have
not direct access to the reservoir. In
an undulating district there is no diff
Guilty, for it is by no means necessary
that the pond should be at the lowest
place, and if on the side of a hill, and
the trough a few yards below, it is
easily managed.
In a very fiat district it would be
more difficult to adopt this plan, but it
is not at all impossible. A very large
quantity of water is also wasted from
the roofs of farm buildings, which, if
collected into reservoirs, would supply
the cattle in any contiguous pasture.
The value of small springs is very
much moderated, for although they
are in some sense a natural supply,
they would yet be. useless unless cared
for by artificial means. In one of my
pastures l have a small spring running
into two troughs of fifteen gallons
each it runs at the rate of about a
pint a minute, and it supplies twenty
cattle all the summer, and with a large
storage in troughs would, Of course,
supply more. But if these small springs
are allowed to run into ponds to which
cattle have direct access they are quite
useless, as they are lost in tina mud
trodden up by the cattle. The stream
of the spring to which [ allude is about
half as thick as a cedar pencil. There
fore, [ advocate greater attention being
paid to small springs as a most i'm
portant water supply, supplemented by
a pond regarded as a reservoir +; OF,
where there are no springs, that a
sufficient supply should be stored in
reservoir ponds and used in troughs.
English Agricultural Speaker.
In the Massachusetts, House of Rep
rasentatives on last Wednesday the